


Recovery

by Ceestar



Category: Kamen Rider OOO
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-29
Updated: 2013-07-29
Packaged: 2017-12-21 18:27:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/903447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ceestar/pseuds/Ceestar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Recovering in hospital after their first fight against Maki, Date and Gotou converse about the events of the last two days and its impact on their relationship. [post ep 38]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Recovery

_“Believe…”_

_The words echoed loudly in Gotou’s ears as the grip of his shoulder tightened, it tightened until he could feel the other man’s fingers digging into his skin, imprinting on his shoulder. Breathes of ice filled his lungs while fire roared around them, the two men trapped._

_“Believe in yourself!”_

_The grip on his shoulder suddenly slipped away as though dissolving into a fog, but a moment later there was a ground-shaking thud as the arm hit the ground. The body in his arms went limp and panic and horror took overwhelmed Gotou’s entire being. His head spun as the fires rose around him, flames towering and licking at his skin. His entire body was somehow frozen as a name tore through his throat._

_He screamed._

Gotou Shintarou bolted up right with a cry, white light blinding him for a moment as a steady hand held his shoulder.

“Gotou-chan! Hey! It’s alright!”

Gravity pulled Gotou roughly back down to Earth as the world quickly came into focus- first the soft surface he was sitting on, then the white, flameless walls, that boxed around him. Next was the hand that was still attached to his shoulder, Gotou steadied his breathing as his eyes followed the bandaged arm up to meet Date Akira’s eyes.

“You’re okay and I’m okay,” Date said, guessing correctly what nightmare Gotou had awoken from. “Everyone’s safe and alive. It was just a dream.”

“Date-san…”

Date patted the younger man’s shoulder and grinned, his other arm held out awkwardly behind him, which Gotou quickly realised, was due to the IV Date was attached to. He glanced around the room while steadying his breathing, the hospital room quickly became clear and Gotou whipped his forehead with the back of his hand, brushing off beads of sweat.

“Okay?” Date asked.

“Yes,” Gotou responded with a nod, to which Date returned before sitting in a chair next to Gotou’s bed and picking up a magazine that seemed to have fallen off his lap.

Gotou brought a hand up to run through his hair, he closed his eyes and let out a shaky breath before trying to compile his thoughts and memories of what had happened. He pushed passed the memories of the warehouse, trying hard not to picture the nightmare again. He pushed past his own screams, pass the sensation of Birth’s armour forming around him and pass Hino’s cries before Date seemed to raise himself from the dead.

He remembered loosing all feeling in the lower half of his body and collapsing onto the ground. He remembered Hino calling for an ambulance and it arriving very soon after- he also remembered suspecting Satonaka had arranged for an ambulance to be station nearby. He had offered his bike to Hino as Date was loaded into the back of the ambulance and then he had climbed in as well. He had watched the Doctors work and listened to Date argue back.

Hazy half memories drifted back and forth from there; Gotou vaguely remembered losing consciousness in the ambulance and being supported out of the vehicle some time later. Some Doctors had made a fuss and Gotou hadn’t had the energy to protest against them, Date hadn’t helped with his own diagnosis of Gotou’s condition. He’d been whisked away into the emergency unit and the rest was a mess of white, medical terms and pain killers.

Gotou opened his eyes and gave a small sigh. He turned his head to the side to see Date still watching him with a welcoming smile, as though waiting to fill in any gaps in the younger man’s memories. Gotou pressed his lips together for a moment his hands balled into fists- this isn’t how he imagined the aftermath of using Birth.

“Don’t be like that,” Date said fondly, placing his hand on Gotou’s wrist. “This isn’t exactly how I would like to have passed Birth onto you, but I knew you were ready; you did great.”

Gotou felt his cheeks heat up and he murmured a small thank you.

“Y’know, I really thought I was going to die back there,” Date groaned dramatically, letting go of Gotou’s wrist and stretching- Gotou gave him a panicked look. “Ah, sorry, I just mean that I didn’t mean to scare you like that! I _am_ sorry,” he chuckled nervously.

“It’s alright,” Gotou murmured, looking away bashfully. “I… I’m just glad you’re alive.”

“You did say that you weren’t going to let me die after all, I trust you to be a man of your word,” Date grinned. “So how did you go with Birth?”

It took him a moment to answer, so Gotou merely nodded. “You never did read the manual for Birth, did you?”

“It was this thick!” Date said, pinching his thumb and index finger together then separating them, keeping them about five centimetres apart.

“More like,” Gotou reached over and brought Date’s index finger down half way. “The weapons I used came out shining like new, they were all in perfect working condition, I suspected that you have never used them in combat."

“What, you mean there were weapons I didn’t even use?” Date asked, dumbfounded.

“It seems that way, Birth has a total of six CLAWs, and combining them activates a new mode- did you really not know this?”

“I really don’t like manuals,” Date said rather sheepishly but grinned when he saw Gotou smile. “It’s a real good thing you like them though Gotou-chan, saved my life and sounds like you were able to use Birth a lot better than I ever did.”

“That’s not true,” Gotou said quickly. “I was… I wasn’t really thinking straight, I just-“

“ _Rela~x_ ,” Date whined, drawing out the word until Gotou closed his mouth. “Look, you’re a good kid and I’m really glad Birth’s going to you- you were meant to be the original user after all. I am sorry that it had to happen like this though.”

Gotou took a moment to study Date’s face as the other man sighed, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. Date was trying hard to dance around any sort of serious topic, but Gotou knew him to be an honest man and there was clearly something on his chest.

“You guys,” Date chuckled sheepishly. “You and Hino both, you really gave me too much credit you know? Hino and Anko I could’ve handled, but did you really think I was going to attack you, Gotou-chan?”

“Well, I…” Gotou mumbled to himself, unconsciously touching his stomach.

Date quickly reached over and took Gotou’s hand, holding it firmly. The younger man turned his head and their eyes locked, Date’s face apologetic.

“I didn’t want to see you hurt. You’re tough, Gotou-chan, but you’re still human. You need to remember that sometimes,” the side of Date’s lip twisted upwards but didn’t quite turn into his usual grin. Gotou immediately felt a wave of guilt wash over him- he didn’t expect an apology from Date.

“I know,” Gotou said softly, placing one hand on top of Date’s and giving a firm squeeze to ensure the doctor knew he meant what he was saying. “Thank you, Date-san. It really does mean a lot.”

“I really didn’t want you to show up you know,” Date said, half smiling and leaning back into his chair- Gotou tried to hide his disappointment as Date’s hand slipped away from his. “Plan was that I’d rough Hino up a bit, stop the Doctor when his guard was down and collect my earnings. You-“ Date stopped to point a finger at Gotou. “-were meant to have given up on me and just gone back to the Foundation.”

“You didn’t really expect me to do that, did you?”

“I punched you pretty hard yesterday,” Date responded quickly.

“You stopped the Greeed from killing me, you mean,” Gotou said. “I understand the situation now, Date-san. I understand why you did what you did. Even before that though, we--- we’ve spent a lot of time together, and I couldn’t believe that you would really betray us. Not without good reason.”

“You’re a stubborn kid,” Date muttered fondly, Gotou turning to him in confusion. “Like I said, you guys give me too much credit, I’m human too you know? I have my own desires and they’re not always for the good of those around me. But… I’m sorry that I hurt you, Gotou-chan.”

“Date-san,” Gotou said softly in disbelief.

Gotou shook his head. Date has absolutely nothing to apologise for as far as Gotou was concerned. He had learned long ago that the world didn’t revolve around him, and Date had done what he had to do to protect Gotou. If Date hadn’t stopped him fighting the Greeed, they would most likely have killed him. If Date had told Gotou what was going on from the beginning, they would not have been able to fool the Greeed and Gotou would most likely have protested putting Date into enemy territories. If things hadn’t happened the way they did, Gotou would not have become Birth and they certainly wouldn’t be able to get the bullet out in time.

With a wave of sudden urgency, Gotou lifted the blanket off and twisted around to swing his legs over the side of the bed. Date reached out quickly to help, despite being the more heavily injured of the pair. Upon Date’s advancement, Gotou leaned forward while still sitting on the bed and wrapped his arms around Date’s shoulders. One hand lingered for a brief second on the back of Date’s head where Gotou knew the wound was.

Date, taken by surprise, blinked against the darkness, his face buried in Gotou’s chest. He wasn’t entirely uncomfortable, save his IV arm being awkwardly stretched out again, so he didn’t pull away. At this, Gotou tightened his hold just a little bit.

“Thank you, Date-san,” Gotou murmured into Date’s shoulder. “For coming back alive.”

With a smile, Date brought his free arm up around Gotou’s waist as he silently wished the hospital bed weren’t at such an awkward height. He rested his head against Gotou’s chest and sighed softly.

“It’s good to be back.” 


End file.
